Apple confirms September 9, 2009 “rock and roll” event

Apple has announced a special media event to take place on September 9, 2009. …

Apple has just announced a special media event taking place on September 9, confirming previous reports of such an event taking place on that day. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco at 10am Pacific Time.

The invitation, pictured above, features a classic iPod ad silhouette and reads "It's only rock and roll, but we like it." There's no indication that any sort of non-iPod product will be involved in this year's event, so that doesn't exactly surprise us. Some expect an Apple tablet to be announced that day (which we admit could be a possibility), but such a thing seems very unlikely.

As usual, Ars will cover the event live on September 9, so check back on Infinite Loop for up-to-the-second updates from yours truly. In the meantime, happy speculating!

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

Originally posted by sleepcountry:If that's the case, isn't it a bit of a travesty to advertise for a Beatles-related event with a Rolling Stones lyric? No sir, I don't think it has anything to do with the Beatles.

Originally posted by Ssnseawolf:Beatles rock band is being released on the 9th. What's to think this isn't Beatles related?

It's not just the release of Beatles Rock Band that's scheduled for that date:

quote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles#2009_CD_remastersOn 7 April 2009, it was announced through The Beatles website and email newsletter that their entire back catalog is to be re-released in digitally remastered form for the first time on 9 September 2009, following an extensive remastering process that lasted four years.

Also note that currently, none of The Beatles music is available through any digital distribution channel. I wouldn't be surprised that with the remastered re-release, that the catalog would finally be coming to iTunes.

Sounds like September 9th is going to be an all-around Beatle's blitz.

...i really hope apple remedies its past few years' neglect and finally offers an ipod with sufficient capacity for lossless collections...i hope as much, but given their contemporary direction, i remain skeptical that they give a damn...

Originally posted by ScottTFrazer:Didn't Apple have an iPod event a couple (or 3-4) years back that had a tag line from a Beatles song? I seem to remember it, but can't find any google evidence to back that up

So this is Yet Another iPod Update? Those slogans always seem to match what they talk about ("There's something in the Air" -> MacBook Air), so it seems like a non-event to me; I have an iPhone, so new iPods really don't interest me. I guess it could still be a surprise. Maybe Teh Steve will be back.

Originally posted by ScottTFrazer:Didn't Apple have an iPod event a couple (or 3-4) years back that had a tag line from a Beatles song? I seem to remember it, but can't find any google evidence to back that up

Obviously a girl? I thought it was that guy who lives in the pink adobe house nextdoor to us. He wears shoes like that on Saturday nights. Red/green hair. I wonder if Apple'll show a half-ripe tapplet.

What I really want to see is an Apple media server. A place where the members of a household can store their stuff and an intelligent yet simple way to tell which music/pictures/film can be accessed by everyone and which are exclusive for one account. This device will come with video and audio out, ethernet, WLAN and USB2 for additinal disk space.

I predict the iPod "classic" will get an SDD drive so it can be modernized, but still have big capacity. Both the "classic" and the "nano" will get cameras, a bigger screen, and a new scroll wheel which is under the screen. The "touch" will be updated with more iPhone features.

And of course the iPhone "shuffle" will finally be revealed. It will speak the names of people in your address book in order and you can click on the button to call the one you want. Think Jitterbug with an Apple flair and seventeen less buttons.

It would make sense for the Beatles catalog to be announced as well. It has to be released some time and right when Rock Band comes out makes as much sense as any date. I would predict a Beatles special edition iPod with all the Beatles songs preloaded.

Originally posted by TctclMvPhase:This sounds like poor planning on Apple's part. I can't imagine theyll get much of a crowd considering that its the Dreamcast's 10th birthday...

Holy heck! I'm going to take a day off work to play Dreamcast then! It's still going strong, noisy overheating but awesomely fun to play thing that it is

The slogan Apple have chosen sounds like it carries the implication "Yeah, it's another round of iPod updates, and they're pretty average - nothing to get excited about, but people like iPods, so...". It can either mean that, or they're giving us lack of excitement for a big announcement.

Originally posted by ...m...:...i really hope apple remedies its past few years' neglect and finally offers an ipod with sufficient capacity for lossless collections...i hope as much, but given their contemporary direction, i remain skeptical that they give a damn...